Howard Sutton

Latest Articles

The high-stakes overhaul of a newspaper website

As the ProJo turns
The Providence Journal 's website, once considered forward-looking, feels a little backward at the moment.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 17, 2010

Making waves

Can WRNI supplant the ProJo as the state’s news king?
Rhode Island’s upstart National Public Radio affiliate, WRNI, aims to be nothing less than a major media player here. And in the space of just a couple of years, the station has taken some impressive first steps.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 10, 2010

Crossing the line

Belo Sells out. Plus, talk like a Brit, Chicago Vin acts up, and faithless football.
The news from the Dallas-based A.H. Belo Corp., owners of the Dallas Morning News and our own Providence Urinal, hit home hard and quickly last week in Our Little Towne.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | December 09, 2009

News worth paying for?

The ProJo considers charging for access to its Web site
The Providence Journal , offering a rare window onto its own affairs, recently reported that the newspaper could start charging for access to large swaths of projo.com as early as the first quarter of next year.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | December 02, 2009

Paging Dilbert

Fonting around at the Urinal. Plus, celebrity karaoke, and more.
What’s black and white and re(a)d all over? Certainly not the Providence Urinal, whose circulation has been falling faster than a 1000-pound safe pushed out of a sky-scraper window.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 04, 2009

The beginning of the end?

Journal to cut 100 more jobs.
As the ProJo Turns: There is nothing shocking anymore about the layoffs sweeping the newspaper industry.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 25, 2009

Former editorial writer says his last column got spiked

As The ProJo Turns
An unidentified editorial writer was among those laid off when the Providence Journal eliminated 30 news jobs in October.
By IAN DONNIS | December 03, 2008

Heslin's rise: A change of the guard, but to what effect?

As The ProJo Turns
Thomas E. Heslin, the Providence Journal's new executive editor — like his storied predecessor — bridges two distinctly different journalistic eras.
By IAN DONNIS | November 19, 2008

Buyout falls short of goal; questions remain

As The ProJo Turns
Twenty-two Providence Journal employees, 12 in news and 10 in advertising, have taken the company up on its latest buyout.
By IAN DONNIS | August 27, 2008

Who’ll stop the pain?

Another round of cuts looms at the ProJo
Will the last reporter to leave the Providence Journal please turn out the lights?
By IAN DONNIS | July 30, 2008

Pillow talk

Digging into the Education Partnership-Achorn connection
Phillipe + Jorge were shocked to learn via Buddy Cianci’s WPRO radio show that Valerie Forti, head of the financially troubled Education Partnership, is married to Eddie Achorn, editorial page editor of the Urinal.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | July 02, 2008

The end of an era at the ProJo

Rawson bridges two distinctly different eras in journalism
“They’re too contrary, too independent, and too fiercely competitive,” he told me at the time.
By IAN DONNIS | March 19, 2008

The Journal wants it both ways on scrutiny of the media

As the ProJo turns
There was a bit of unintended irony in the Providence Journal ’s publication Monday of Sydney Schanberg’s spot-on op-ed piece about Rupert Murdoch.
By IAN DONNIS | August 15, 2007

Georgia man, angered about spelling bee, calls for boycott

As the ProJo turns
A Georgia man has created a Web site calling for a boycott of Rhode Island’s statewide daily.
By IAN DONNIS | April 18, 2007

The ProJo’s power behind the throne

Mark Ryan exemplifies the changes during 10 years of Belo’s ownership
Mark T. Ryan is a man of many descriptions.
By IAN DONNIS | March 28, 2007

Appetite vanishes for vetting “editorial mysteries” on casino switch

As the ProJo turns
Although someone on the Providence Journal ’s editorial board wanted to offer a published explanation of the newspaper’s dramatic and unacknowledged recent reversal in endorsing the Harrah’s Entertainment-Narragansett Indian casino, the ensuing editorial never made it into the print version of the ProJo .
By IAN DONNIS | November 08, 2006

A curious editorial switch on the Harrah’s casino

As the ProJo turns
Reporters at the Providence Journal were among those taken by surprise when the paper, in an abrupt and unacknowledged reversal of its long-held position, editorialized on Sunday, October 22, in favor of the proposed Harrah’s Entertainment-Narragansett Indian casino.
By IAN DONNIS | November 01, 2006

No cuts planned, but still a mixed story on Fountain Street

As The ProJo Turns
The good news is that no layoffs or voluntary job reductions are planned at the Providence Journal , unlike at the Belo Corporation’s flagship Dallas Morning News, where a move to cut 85 newsroom jobs was announced last month.
By IAN DONNIS | September 06, 2006

Newspaper war erupts in publisher’s backyard

Media
Warwick — the childhood home of Providence Journal publisher Howard G. Sutton and the town in which he still resides — has emerged as a site of intensifying competition for newspaper readers.
By IAN DONNIS | May 10, 2006

The incredible shrinking library

Facing a $900k deficit and angry book lovers, the PPL reconsiders its city-wide approach
When a leaky roof closed the Washington Park branch of the Providence Public Library in January, a small number of children’s books were moved to a nearby former Benny’s store on Broad Street, and the branch’s literacy and after-school services fanned out to other locations.
By IAN DONNIS | April 27, 2006